2012-13 Soccer Thread

[ewitkows]

He's the special one. grass stains don't stick to his pants

[WV Brew]

http://espnfc.com/us/en/report/352057/report.html?soccernet=true&cc=5901

 

Sampdoria still undefeated with Nicola Pozzi getting the equalizer with Torino. 4th in the table so far. Too bad it wasn't Juventus.

[trwi7]

That Liverpool Man U. game pissed me off yesterday. So freakin' biased in favor of Man U. The Shelvey red card was weak and the penalty that gave U the game winning goal was a joke.

[TooLiveBrew]

I thought the Shelvey red card was warranted, but that's based on a subjective analysis -- I thought he went in with malice.

 

On the penalty, not sure what the ref was supposed to do when Johnson tackled across Valencia's body the way he did. Yes, Valencia went down easily, but the actions of Johnson alone looked like a penalty to me -- he caught Valencia's left leg entirely with his challenge & didn't really come close to getting the ball.

[Kelbysdaddy]

that penalty was well deserved. i dont think the red card was necessary though. uniteds defense looked like crap. rvp and kagawa didnt seem to be interested in getting the ball at all.

[ewitkows]

Evra should have been Red carded also

[Mike2k33]

The ref had a terrible game. Shelvey went in too strong but Evans went in with two feet. If you send off Shelvey you have to send off Evans as well. Or give them both yellows. The penalty was a little soft, but the red card was the big difference in the game.

 

Credit to Liverpool for outplaying Man U, even with 10 men.

[trwi7]

I thought the Shelvey red card was warranted, but that's based on a subjective analysis -- I thought he went in with malice.

 

There is no way that was malicious or anything close to it. It was a solid play on the ball. He actually got a lot of the ball first and barely, if at all hit the Man U. guy who did a great Greg Louganis impression.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdTpBH8nLeE

 

that penalty was well deserved. i dont think the red card was necessary though. uniteds defense looked like crap. rvp and kagawa didnt seem to be interested in getting the ball at all.

 

There was absolutely no contact on that penalty. Another masterful dive by Man U. I thought it was weak when they first called it, replays confirmed it and the postgame on Fox calling it weak cemented my thoughts on it.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9u0F07EPyk

[TooLiveBrew]

I thought the Shelvey red card was warranted, but that's based on a subjective analysis -- I thought he went in with malice.

 

There is no way that was malicious or anything close to it. It was a solid play on the ball. He actually got a lot of the ball first and barely, if at all hit the Man U. guy who did a great Greg Louganis impression.

There's no way? I disagree (obviously).

 

There was absolutely no contact on that penalty. Another masterful dive by Man U. I thought it was weak when they first called it, replays confirmed it and the postgame on Fox calling it weak cemented my thoughts on it.

If you watch the clip you linked of the penalty, the commentator is agreeing that it was absolutely a penalty.

[trwi7]

And the guys on the postgame said it was a great acting job. And even if you think Shelvey was malicious, Evans was just as malicious going in with both feet. He just rolled around like an idiot pretending to be in agony and the awful ref gave him the call.

[TooLiveBrew]

I didn't say anything about Evans. I'm not a fan or hater of either ManU or Liverpool. Honestly, the most just ruling would've probably been a yellow in both cases. EDIT: Also, it looked like Shelvey's studs may have scraped up Evans's leg from his shin to his thigh, and if that's the case, the agony wasn't simulated.

 

 

And the guys on the postgame said it was a great acting job.

 

I realize that. But listen to the explanation the commentator gives in the video you linked -- it was Johnson tackling across the body of Valencia that drew the call (he also points out that Johnson clipped Valencia's right heel, but I doubt the ref was able to see that in real-time).

[bacon06]

Coming in with two feet is never going to end well. The difference between yellow and red is yellow is for reckless challenges and red is for excessive force. Using two feet is definitely excessive force.

 

On Guardian Football Weekly they made a case for giving Evans a yellow along with the red to Shelvey.

[trwi7]

I retract all previous objections to the ref in this game after watching the Packers tonight.

[kalle8]

Ahahahah, this thread is getting more and more italian!

It italy we had two tv shows called "the monday trial" and "the tuesday appeal" (not joking) which only talked refrees!

[bacon06]

So Klinnsman talked about how he called in Eddie Johnson for his aerial abilities, then proceeds to line him up as a wide midfielder. Becoming increasingly frustrated with Jurgen's tactics, or lack thereof. Hopefully it won't matter against Antigua.

[Baldkin]

It was ugly but the US got the win. The field they were playing on was tiny, I hope that's why Johnson got his play out wide. Otherwise he really doesn't belong there.

[Funketown]

Did anybody actually get the PPV for the game? I couldn't find a stream so I had to follow the commentary on espnfc and it sounded pretty brutal. I don't understand why this team is having such difficulty in these early qualifiers. I wonder if there's any chance JK would have been on the hot seat had they lost that game (or even drawn).

 

So long as one of the following happens, they'll be through to the next round:

- Don't lose to Guatemala

- Jamaica doesn't beat A&B

- One other unlikely situation where Jamaica wins, USA loses, and goal differentials are 3 or 4.

 

Most likely it will be Mexico, USA, Canada, Panama, Jamaica, and Costa Rica, and they're undoubtedly the second best team in that pool. Just gotta get it done.

[stoops17]

I found a stream thanks to the ussoccer forums. The pitch was small as stated and groomed for cricket, so it was really uneven it seemed, made for some wayward passes. Then the rain and wind picked up in the second half, making it more fun. There were some miss communication trying to link up in the attacking half. Dempsey was even heard yelling at someone, forgot who. The width of the pitch also seemed to make it hard to get the wide players to send crosses in. I guess that was the plan with the small pitch setup.

[trwi7]

Terrible start today by the USMNT against Guatemala giving up a goal 4 minutes in. They equalized about 6 minutes later, got the go ahead goal 8 minutes after that and added another 18 minutes after that and won quite easily 3-1.

 

Horrible miscommunication led to the first goal for Guatemala but after that the defense for the most part was good as the US kept possession and limited opportunities when Guatemala did have possession.

[TooLiveBrew]

The attack looked great yesterday, which was nice to see -- especially without Donovan. The defense continues to be suspect, though. If Klinsman can't sharpen up the defense, the US won't last long in Brazil.

[ewitkows]

Can't wait for tomorrow. I hate international breaks. Chelsea v Spuds should be a cracker

[Kelbysdaddy]

anyone else see that nbc bought premier league american tv rights starting next season? hopefully this wont mean less games televised but i bet it will since they wont have a dedicated soccer channel like fox does.

[TooLiveBrew]

anyone else see that nbc bought premier league american tv rights starting next season? hopefully this wont mean less games televised but i bet it will since they wont have a dedicated soccer channel like fox does.

Here's the SI.com story, and a relevant excerpt:

 

In an interview Sunday night with SI.com, NBC Chairman Mark Lazarus said NBC Sports Network will be the primary carrier of EPL games and that EPL fans will have access to every game on the schedule through an NBC platform. "It will not be unlike the Olympics where you saw programming on CNBC, Bravo, USA or MSNBC," Lazarus said. "We are working to make it a consistent schedule so fans know exactly where to find games. But the Premier League fan will be able to get to every game live."

 

The winning bid for the BPL rights was $250M for three years. Wow.

[Kelbysdaddy]

NICE! they have Pretty much all of those in hd too. Thanks for posting that.

[Kelbysdaddy]

Triple post